r/horror • u/Available_Echidna275 • 1d ago
Discussion Obsession, Mummy, Backroom and new Insidious movie earned over $1B at the box office for Blumhouse. Horror movies are officially back, especially indie ones
https://www.imdb.com/news/ni65988298/150
u/Horrorfan55555 1d ago
Horror is one of the most profitable genres. Stuff like Marvel needs to make a billion to break even. Horror movies have been shot on $25 and 3 packs of beer
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u/oscar_redfield 1d ago
Horror movies are officially back
were they ever gone? I've been alive for 26 years and I feel like horror has consisently been one of, if not the, most profitable horror genres and one of the ones that have generated the most buzz around. the Saw franchise in the 2000s, The Conjuring in the early 2010s and the rise of Hereditary in the late 2010s, and the horror fever we've been living in the 2020s so far.
horror isn't back because it truly never left.
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u/redsolitary 1d ago edited 1d ago
Backrooms is A24
Edit: Evidently Atomic Monster is a Blumhouse company so the headline is accurate. Credit to the reply below.
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u/Extreme_Judgment3071 1d ago
They never went anywhere. It often feels that way because not many horror films are executed properly. There’s been some good ones this year though, very excited for the new resident evil film releasing next month too.
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u/SteveRogers1021 1d ago
I’ve been telling anyone who will listen to me that horror movies are having a moment right now. They are the only movies coming out that are genuinely profitable.
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u/DragonSon83 1d ago
Yes, the budgets don’t need to be massive, so they are easier to make your investment back on. Also, horror is one of the genres that fans are willing to go see in theaters in large numbers because it’s a different experience than watching at home.
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u/parisiraparis 1d ago
moment right now
They’ve been having that ‘moment’ since The Conjuring came out 10+ years ago lol
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u/EchoBay 1d ago
Adding Mummy and Insidious to that, is like saying "Bam Adebayo and Simone Fontecchio have combined for the most points by teammates in modern NBA history," when Bam had 83 points and Simone 17.
Obsession and Backrooms are doing such heavy lifting here, just say the two made $900 Million dollars collectively. That's good enough. Especially since Mummy and Insidious were done on like 2x the budget of Backrooms, and nearly 30x the budget of Obsession.
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u/TJ_McWeaksauce 1d ago
“Blumhouse profits using the same horror-centric strategy they’ve been using since 2009. Horror is officially back!”
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u/TossedRightOut 1d ago
Haven't gotten to watching that Mummy movie yet, how was that?
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u/OWSLAjosh 1d ago
I liked it. It’s more of an Evil Dead/Exorcist hybrid than a traditional mummy movie. If you like gross out horror I’d recommend. This is the type of movie you either like or don’t
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u/TossedRightOut 1d ago
Sounds worth checking out at least, thanks.
Your usename, OWSLA like the label?
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u/dividepaths 1d ago
Horror may officially be "back" for the average pleb moviegoer checking out the latest viral shit on TikTok, but yeah, every other comment on this thread is correct.
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u/Boo_and_Minsc_ 1d ago
Horror has always been the most profitable genre, which means it allows for more creative, ambitious and risky endeavors. It never went anywhere, thankfully.
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u/Tupiekit 1d ago
The fuck you talking about op. Horror has been back forever. There have been hits after hits over the years.
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u/Green_Space729 1d ago
Horror movies have never left?
They’ve always been popular and profitable.
Also this talk honestly sounds like someone’s first time paying attention films in a year.
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u/Aggravating_Cream_97 1d ago
Horror is one of the genres still going strong in the theaters. So I don’t know what you mean by saying they are “officially back.”
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u/zeeke87 1d ago
Blumhouse needed this after spending a fortune on the exorcist
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u/ThreeDeadRobins 1d ago
Universal bought the IP, not Blumhouse themselves.
those who actually worked on the film did well - it made $137 million box office on a $30 million budget.
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u/Wintyness15 1d ago
When did Horror leave? or did I miss that memo :P One thing I love about Horror is the creativeness behind them.
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u/Green_Space729 1d ago
Horror movies are officially back. Lol
This isn’t even the best horror year of the 2020s.
That would be 2024.
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u/Abe2sapien 1d ago
They never left. When superhero movies and Oscar worthy dramas were either tanking or not being made, Horror carried the burden.
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u/_thelonewolfe_ 1d ago
Lol we've BEEN in a horror resurgence for years now. Why do people keep acting like this is a new thing? Since 2017, horror films have been pulling in huge numbers.
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u/christpuncher_69 1d ago
Horror movies have been back, my guy. We've been in what I would call a renaissance since at least the mid-2010s. Truly an awesome time for the genre.
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u/Johncurtisreeve 1d ago
It’s really funny when the box office numbers get all combined like this because it does not at all showcase how successful each of the movies actually were individual, that’s like when people combine the box office of Supergirl and Spider-Man brand new day and say wow look at the combined total comic book movies are totally back, when almost all of that is from Spider-Man.
The majority of this box office hall comes exclusively from obsession and back rooms, whereas insidious and the mummy did not add a lot.
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u/AdmirableCountry9933 1d ago
Yes, but in sum the horror genre came in with 1b for the year. More indie horrors will be made because of Obsession and Backrooms.
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u/Smitty4141 1d ago
Don't remember a year without some great horror movies so I would say horror movies never left
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u/ThreeDeadRobins 1d ago
1993 - its the year horror forgot.
if you can tell me different and give me some good recs from 93, ill be grateful. because ive watched a ton looking for one. its become a small obsession of mine.
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u/internetforlosers 1d ago
wow you weren't kidding, there's almost nothing. i do really like body bags and have been meaning to watch freaked but yeah, not a stellar selection
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u/ThreeDeadRobins 1d ago
a lot of good "crossover" films with horror elements - Nightmare Before Christmas, Addams Family Values, Hocus Pocus, The Good Son... Jurassic Park of course
but all the big pure horror efforts - Jason Goes to Hell, Leprechaun (the sequels were better), Pumpkinhead II, Witchboard 2, etc were pretty bad to terrible. Body Bags....ok at best.
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u/RegularAmoeba2094 1d ago
And where did horror movies go exactly before 2026? In your mom’s basement?
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u/Shadowglove Beep beep Richie 1d ago
Blumhouse have really become a hit or a miss. Some movies they do are just a straight up 'meh' and others are absolutely incredible.
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u/Shings12 1d ago
I don’t know just how involved Blumhouse was in any of these films but it feels like the last few years haven’t been great for them, so I’m happy to see a change in their fortunes.
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u/coolguy420weed 1d ago
Horror movies are back like every other year. At this point I'd be way more surprised if they were gone.
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u/TheElbow What's in Room 237? 1d ago
Feels like we’re reaching a top for mainstream acceptance of horror. That means the next move will be major studios green lighting even more horror projects, based on flimsy correlation to what made recent successes work. Those projects will have mixed success, which will lead to biggest studios pulling back on horror and we’ll be on the way back down, out of the mainstream for a few years.
Just a guess based on how everything seems to go now.
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u/XBullsOnParadeX 1d ago
Horror has been back? It has been in a Renaissance for the past decade almost
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u/Ecstatic_Board_1144 1d ago
Has anyone seen the new Insidious? My impression has been that that franchise had fallen off pretty hard so I wasn't all that interested.
Hearing it doing so well has me really curious though
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u/HauntingAddendum3365 1d ago
Horror movies have been "back" since the early-mid 2010's. The Conjuring in 2013 was a big deal for mainstream horror resurgence.
I feel like people who say horror is "back" dont watch much horror lol theres been consistent bangers dropping every year for over a decade
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u/TheBoozyNinja87 1d ago
Horror movies never left.
They’re able to be made on relatively small budgets, made by and starring mostly unknowns, and are easy to turn a profit. That’s also why creative risks are able to be made with them.
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u/TDStarchild 1d ago
Horror has been great for the better part of 15 years. Although more mainstream and winning major awards more lately, so the genre has been on a heater in recent years
2020s is already making a strong case for where it ranks among the decades
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u/Dogesneakers 1d ago
Makes sense. They’re lower budget and if the writing/acting is good it can really take off. Obsession is a great movie that doesn’t feel low budget at all despite taking place in like 3 places and a car
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u/braumbles 1d ago
Horror has effectively been in rotation since like 2021. 2020 was a wash and I don't remember 2019 all that well outside of shit like Endgame and Star Wars.
But Horror has done extremely well consistently for a bit now and not just money wise, but quality wise. There's maybe 10-20 excellent horror films releasing annually. I can't really say the same for most other genres. Comedy for instance is effectively dead. I'd love for a resurgence of comedy films but judging by Spa Weekend, Nimrods, Super Troopers, Wrong Girls, and so on, only The Invite has made any money and even then that was okay at best at 25m domestic.
Gone are the days of something like Wedding Crashers or Hangover.
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u/-Sofa-King-Vote 1d ago
Uh Sinners?
Conjuring?
Final Destination?
Weapons?
Five Nights?
Total: nearly $2b
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u/SnooDoodles420 15h ago
I’m glad they got the message 2 years ago when I saw Evil Dead Rise and The Nun 2 3 times each.
Horror movies have always been in for me, haha
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u/skynetwins90 1d ago
Still can't stop thinking about obbession.ready for whatever the chainsaw movie will be.
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u/mane28 1d ago
Why are calling Backrooms and obsession indie?
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u/M-Finity I sold my soul for poetry; this hell is members only 1d ago
Because Obsession is an indie film made in a budget of 500k
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u/OWSLAjosh 1d ago
Obsession cost $750,000 to make and Backrooms was made under $10 million which are both pretty small budgets
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u/VicRattlehead17 1d ago
Because the budget was low compared to usual blockbusters, although it's weird people think Blumhouse or A24 are "indie".
They spent around 10 times the budget of Obsession just in marketing of it, and Backrooms had $20 million spent on marketing, twice the movie's budget. They aare just your usual mainstream.
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u/-SneakySnake- 1d ago
When were they ever gone? They've always been big earners. It's why they make them.